The present application relates to the a transport cover/tarpaulin and use thereof, especially for goods which during transport require refrigeration, freezing or segregation such as, e.g., foodstuffs and certain types of chemicals and hazardous goods.
During transport of the aforementioned product groups it is of importance that an even and/or low temperature is maintained throughout the entire duration of the transport.
One of the foodstuffs which is transported within, and exported from, Norway in large quantities is fresh and frozen fish. Fish is also transported in large quantities to remote markets such as, e.g., Japan. The invention will be described below on the basis of this transport of fish. However, it must be stressed that this is merely intended to serve as an example and that the transport cover according to the invention is equally suitable for all types of goods as mentioned above.
It is desirable, of course, that it should also be possible to transport fish to remote markets without any reduction in quality. However, on account of the fish being reloaded several times considerable problems are involved here.
Fish is packed for transport in cases of cardboard or polystyrene, and these cases are loaded on pallets. The fish is then transported in thermotrucks to an air terminal where it is loaded into the cargo hold of a plane.
As mentioned above, it is desirable for the fish to be kept in an unbroken cold storage chain throughout the journey from the producer to the retailer.
Critical points in this transport chain are those where the refrigerated goods and frozen goods pass from controlled refrigerated/deep-freeze points to new transport or storage places, e.g.. from a refrigerated/freezer terminal to the cargo hold of a plane, and where the goods may remain on the runway, at worst for up to several hours. The temperature on the runway may be very high.
Previously, in some cases air freight containers of aluminium or Plexiglas have been used. The problem with these, however, is that large volumes of empties must be transported back to their place of departure.